this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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(this post obviously assumes the recent removal of russian devs due to sanctions is bad; no need to comment if you disagree)

a lot of people i know are considering jumping ship to some bsd after the recent MAINTAINERS debacle, but i'm skeptical it would make any difference. afaik, they're just as us-centric as linux if not more (it's the berkeley software distribution, after all). also, my biggest gripe about the bsds and the main reason i've never had any interest in them is their permissive licensing. permissive licenses suck

would there be any difference wrt sanctions in the bsds or moving away from linux to *bsd bc of that would be pointless?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

good response, but the last part feels a little circular reasoning

linux contributors live mostly in nato countries, so we have no choice but to push people from non-aligned countries away, which will prevent people from non-nato countries from joining, which will make most contributors be from nato countries

as someone said, people who were removed from the list can still contribute, i think, but this might lead to a situation where technology sovereignty will mean using your own regional linux fork

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

we have no choice but to push people from non-aligned countries away

Non-aligned countries are fine, they can always invade most of the countries once again, the issue is with the Eastern block.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

what's the issue?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think it is a circular problem.

Another example that comes to mind: the sanctions on Huawei and whether Google would be considered to be supplying software because Android is open-source. At the very least any contributions from Huawei is unlikely to be accepted into AOSP. The EU is also becoming problematic with their whole software origin and quality certifications they're trying to impose.

This leads to exactly what you said: national forks. In Huawei's case that's HarmonyOS.

I think we need to get back to being anonymous online, as if you're anonymous nobody knows where you're from and your contributions should be based solely on its merit. The legal framework just isn't set up for an environment like the Internet that severely blurs the lines between borders and no clear "this company is supplying this company in the enemy country".

Governments can't control it, and they really hate it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

It's also the fact that the measures taken are very reminiscent of that one phrase about locks: they keep the honest people away.

I have serious doubts that an hacker group, government-sponsored or not, would be using corporate, easily-traceable emails, like the removed maintainers did.

Seeing governments tackle tech in general is very weird. Sometimes I wonder if they feel the same way when making this kind of decisions or actually never feel a little odd about them.